Anti-burglary Patrols Net First Prowler

August 2, 1985|By Michael Connelly, Staff Writer

FORT LAUDERDALE — A monthlong police and private citizen program aimed at cracking down on crime in the area near Holiday Park was barely three hours old Thursday when a prowler was caught quietly walking a bicycle away from a home he stole it from, officials said.

Police said Elton Sanford, 25, of the 500 block of Northwest Eighth Avenue was bitten and seriously injured by a police dog when he allegedly threw the bike at the dog and attempted to flee.

According to police reports, Sanford was apprehended after plainclothes officers in an unmarked car saw him standing outside a home in the 900 block of Northeast 16th Avenue where a burglary had been reported two hours earlier.

As the officers watched Sanford begin roaming through the neighborhood and disappear behind two homes, other officers set up a perimeter in the area. Police said a police dog tracked the suspect to the 800 block of Northeast 16th Terrace where he was stealing a bicycle belonging to Gary Wick, a nearby resident.

The dog, named Nitro, bit Sanford and severed an artery in his thigh, officals said. He was taken to Broward General Medical Center, where he underwent surgery and was in serious but stable condition.

Because he was hospitalized Thursday, Sanford was not charged with any crime, police spokesman Ott Cefkin said.

But he faces multiple charges, including prowling, theft and carrying burglar tools -- a knife and screwdriver were found in his pockets, Cefkin said. Police said Sanford did not match a description of the burglar seen leaving the home two hours before Sanford was spotted there.

At midnight Thursday, police began an increase of uniform and undercover patrols of ``20 Zone,`` the mostly residential area from Federal Highway to Victoria Park Road between East Broward and Sunrise boulevards. The police are working with residents involved in a citizen alert strategy they hope will stunt a recent increase of burglaries in the area.

In addition to Sanford`s arrest during the first patrol shift of the program, police arrested two men who were loitering in Holiday Park and conducted 14 ``field interviews`` of suspicious persons, Cefkin said.